HYDERABAD: The last four years have been good for tigers in Telangana. Despite the setback of some going missing in the former united Adilabad district and some of them found killed by poachers, the overall numbers of tigers in the state are reported to be up from 2018, when the last All-India Tiger Census figures were released by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Prime Minister is set to release the latest tiger numbers in the country as per the 2022 census, as well as state and tiger reserve-wise tiger numbers in Mysuru on April 9. Forest officials in Telangana are eagerly looking forward to the official figures that will be announced for the national animal.
Sources said that the numbers in Telangana are set to go up this year, reflecting a healthy and growing tiger population, particularly in Amrabad Tiger Reserve (ATR) spread over Nagarkurnool and Nalgonda districts. In 2018, ATR officials had definite evidence of the presence of seven adult tigers – confirmed through camera trap images – with extrapolation based on the forest area and prey species availability placing the number of tigers between 12 and 16 that year.
This year, it is learnt that camera trap images of at least 20 different tigers have been captured during the census operations. If past methods of calculating tiger numbers in a given forest area are any indications, it is expected that ATR could well have anywhere between 20 and 25 tigers, officially. Unofficial estimates put the tigers in Amrabad at 32, including those which come into the reserve from Andhra Pradesh, crossing River Krishna that forms the boundary between ATR and the Nagarjunasagar Srisailam Tiger Reserve in Andhra Pradesh.
This does not include the around 10 cubs given birth to by three tigresses in the reserve this year. Tiger cubs are typically not counted in the census as their survival until their reach two years – adulthood in a tiger lifespan - of age always remains doubtful.
Kawal Tiger Reserve in the former unified Adilabad district and the forest corridor areas in Telangana that connect Maharashtra’s tiger reserves to this state, had 11 confirmed tigers in 2018. This year, despite the loss of some tigers to poachers, the number is expected to rise slightly.
